


Shadows of Twilight

by ZaneOri



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Angst, Blood Drinking, But that's not for a while, Gen, Hunters, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One of them gets turned into a vampire, Vampires, eventual ot8 - Freeform, hence the character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-27 16:48:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30125868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZaneOri/pseuds/ZaneOri
Summary: Twilight City is a very interesting place to live and thrive in. About six human generations ago the supernatural beings that existed outside the city made themselves known, and the city's population worked to accommodate them. Now Aspected and Non-Aspected live in a somewhat harmonious life together, with a subconscious understanding that each side is consciously choosing not to make the other a problem. Now though, something is targeting Aspects, and it's threatening to completely upset the entire balance of Twilight forever. Enter Hunter Kim Hongjoong, who's team has been tasked to investigate with the aid of an Aspected doctor and former detective, Park Seonghwa. Together, they must convince their clan and team to work together to save their City, or watch it forever fall into darkness.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Choi San/Jeong Yunho/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa/Song Mingi, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

It was three in the morning when Hongjoong’s phone went off, the loud irritatingly high pitched jingle that Mingi had somehow programmed as his ringtone and then made it so he could never change it singing in a cutesy voice asking about dating. Groaning and quickly smacking the glowing green phone button to shut it up, he took a minute to rub over his face before putting the phone to his ear. 

“Mmlo?” He managed to get out, voice slurred in sleep. 

“Agent Kim, I apologize for contacting you on your night off but we need you to come in.” Eden’s voice was polite and even as always, but Hongjoong could hear the underlying concern. 

“What’s wrong, sir?” Hongjoong asked, sitting up and turning on the side light by his bed, chasing off the rest of his sleep with the darkness in his room. 

“An attack. A rogue werewolf killed two and turned one. I will be pulling in your team.” Eden replied. 

Hongjoong grimaced, he knew the others had spent a bit of the night enjoying themselves. He felt a pang of remorse that their sleep would be interrupted over this. “Alright. Be there in twenty.” He was already up and heading to the bathroom. 

“Try and make it fifteen. We don’t know where this wolf went but tomorrow is full moon. I’d like it taken out tonight if possible. Be safe.” Eden was shuffling papers as he spoke, more than likely at his desk.

“Mm, be safe.” Hongjoong replied, hanging up and sighing as he began to wash his face. Giving his platinum hair a quick comb, rubbing over the short fade along the back of his head, he sighed. “Mingi is gonna be grumpy.” he muttered, deciding to head to the café down the street once he got dressed. Nothing cheered a bunch of sleepy Hunters up like coffee. 

Fifteen minutes later, armed with one iced americano, some kind of hideously sweet vanilla monstrosity, two regular black coffees and a cold brew caramel something-or-other, all as large as they’d make them, Hongjoong stepped into the black and steel building that housed the second largest organization of Hunters in Twilight City. He scanned his wrist that held his ID chip against the security check at the door, nodding to the guard. He then scanned it again at the elevator, then again off the elevator when he headed into the long hallway of offices that Eden resided on. 

Finally reaching Eden’s office, he headed inside to see the other three members of his team were already there with their handler. Yunho looked up, his dark hair hanging in his tired eyes but he smiled at Hongjoong in a cheerful friendly way. Mingi was barely awake, dark circles also under his eyes and he glared at the blond like all of this was somehow his fault. Their youngest, Jongho, looked pretty alright though he seemed far too happy to receive his americano, drinking it down gratefully with a quick “Thank you.” 

Mingi’s glare vanished when Hongjoong handed him his caramel coffee, the teal haired agent finally gracing him with a bright smile and an affectionate shoulder bump. Yunho received his hideous sugar overload with a nod, already distracted in crime scene photos that he was thumbing through on his tablet. 

“What do we know?” He asked as he handed Eden one of the black coffees, adding sugar to his own before he began to sip it, wincing at the bitterness, but it woke him up. 

“This wolf is a younger pack member of the Half-Moon pack.” Eden replied, sipping his coffee. “They’re tracking him right now, they’ve been working with us completely. They’re just as shocked as we are that this happened.” 

“We’ve never had an issue with that pack, have we?” Jongho asked, frowning. He continued when the others gave him a curious look. “I learned about them at the academy, they’re a smaller pack but they’ve been in the city forever, right?” 

“Yeah, they’ve never had any issue like this. When someone applies to become a wolf, if they want to join Half-Moon there’s a big thing you have to go through to even be considered.” Yunho replied, looking up. “They’ve never even hinted at being aggressive like this, why now?” 

“It only takes one to get lost, and then this sort of thing happens.” Eden sighed. “It wouldn’t have been as bad except we’re so close to the full moon, his wolf was stronger than normal and vicious. We’ll figure out the why once he’s neutralized.” 

“Are we trying to capture, or kill?” Hongjoong asked, draining the rest of his coffee, wanting to be able to head down to the armory once Eden answered. 

“Capture, if we can. Lethal force is allowed.” Eden frowned as he studied his laptop screen. “Argent district, Eclipse park. They’ve got him cornered by the old zoo.” he clicked a few keys and all four of their phones chimed with a synced up map. “I’ll update if they lose him, go.” 

“Let’s roll.” Hongjoong told his team, heading for the elevator, not even questioning if the other three were following. 

It only took the elevator doors to close when Mingi first spoke, his face serious as he looked at the blond leader. “I don’t like this, Joong. We shouldn’t be trying to bring this guy in alive. We’re at a serious risk of being injured.” 

Hongjoong looked at him with sympathy, nodding. “I know, but if that’s what the Council wants we have to do it. Whatever happened to this wolf to make him freak out like this, we need to make sure it’s just him and not some crazy disease or sickness.” 

“Why was he even around non-aspects this close to the full moon? Shouldn’t he have been with the pack in their run location?” Jongho asked, running fingers through his dark red locks to push his fringe from his eyes. 

“Normally yes. It’s a messed up situation all around, and one I’m sure the Council will investigate. We’re not here to answer the questions, we’re here to neutralize the problem.” Hongjoong gave them all a sharp gaze. “Get your heads in this, understood?” 

“Yes sir.” Mingi and Jongho echoed reluctantly. 

Hongjoong glanced at Yunho, but the dark haired Hunter had been completely ignoring the conversation. He could see the peek of the other’s wireless earbuds in, no doubt some very loud angry music pumping into his head to keep him calm while he gathered his weapons. Hongjoong never quite understood how metal calmed someone, but Yunho had yet to prove his concern right. 

The earbuds stayed in until they were at the black bullet-proof SUV that Yunho would drive to the park. Popping them out and tucking them into the pocket of his vest under his jacket, the dark haired male looked at the others, smiling at them. “You guys ready? Mingi are those grenades?” he raised a brow at the teal haired male. 

“No. Well, yes, but they’re just modified flashbangs. I figured the sonic ones would be useful just in case we needed to pull out one big gun.” Mingi replied, shrugging. 

Hongjoong snorted, smiling faintly and nodding to Yunho to start driving. “Smart thinking Minky. Alright, plan is we go in, make contact with the Half-Moon Alpha, and neutralize the target. Jongho takes the shot from a distance, the rest of us are distraction.” he looked at Jongho. “Two darts should do it, we’re close enough to dawn. Get a third ready in case.” 

Jongho nodded, putting his long rifle case on his lap, beginning to pull the modified Telazol into his darts carefully. Once the first was loaded with the proper amount he placed it into the rifle, loading the next and then slipping it into the rifle as well. He then loaded the last, capping the needle on the dart and sticking it in the bullet holder on his vest. 

“Scan incoming.” Yunho called out, approaching the large open gates that lead into the aspected part of the city. He shivered when he felt the small electric thrum in his wrist as the chip embedded in his flesh buzzed with the identification check everyone had to go through when entering this particular space. 

“Ugh, I always hate that feeling. Five years and it still makes my hair stand up.” Mingi grumbled as he worked to double check his rifle, shaking his left hand to work the tinglies out from his chip. 

“Unfortunately it’s necessary for everyone’s safety.” Hongjoong flexed the fingers in his right hand for the same reason Mingi had, the tingle was like a numbing shock that he was pretty sure got worse over the years. If it wasn’t to keep non-aspects from coming to mess with the aspects at night when they were most active they wouldn’t need those stupid gates in the first place. 

Eclipse park was near the back of the quadrant, it was the last real vestige of civilization before the mountainous forest stretched off to where the wolves and other aspects that needed trees and shadowy hidden places to survive went and thrived. It was one of Hongjoong’s favorite places in the aspect section of the city, he would come there in the spring during the equinox festivals and always stock up on fae wine. Tonight though it was silent, the only movement the flickering of shadowed wolf shapes in the moonlight. They parked the SUV on the outskirts of the park, each grabbing their weapon of choice to head deeper towards where the old zoo was. Zoo was a misnomer really, it had been used hundreds of years ago as a place to house feral aspects, a cruel practice that had thankfully ended with the Council coming down hard on mistreatment of aspects and the creation of large medical complexes for both the aspected and non-aspected parts of the city. Now it was changed to a small adventure park, a place to rock climb and run around while still within confines, a great place for pups to learn to hunt and for fae to practice enchantments. He’d even heard tell the vampires tended to come there at night to just spend time near the woods, but thankfully no one else seemed around this night. 

Hongjoong looked around, blinking fast twice and activating the mirror-tech contacts he wore. The darkness fell away, filled in with false color as the modified night vision kicked in. Now he could see them, four wolves had started tracking them, forming a protective barrier around the Hunters. He couldn’t help the small smile that brought to his face, even with one of their own afflicted and being hunted the pack was going to protect the non-aspected, it was a nice reminder of just what the city could do outside of the politics and nonsense some spewed on both sides. 

They reached the entrance to the zoo, one of the wolves slipping past him, scurrying ahead with a chuffing bark sound that was answered by a low growl and a chuff back. Hongjoong had been doing this for six years, and it still startled him just how big werewolves were. Even in their pure wolf form, like this pack currently was, they were over his waist in height at their lowest point on their back. In their gauru form they were over nine feet tall. He hated facing them in that size. 

A chuff came from his left and Hongjoong turned, and caught the tail end of a transformation. He winced as he heard the cracking of bone, but quickly schooled his face when the older man turned to approach them. Not at all caring about his nudity, he nodded to them grimly, pale grey eyes searching first Hongjoong, then the others. “We have him trapped within one of the caves. What is your plan?” his voice was deep and commanding, it matched his muscular bulky form, his salt and pepper hair hanging wildly down his back. This was an elder, the scars along his body spoke of fights he’d won to be standing in front of them. 

Hongjoong took a quick breath, wanting to make sure he sounded respectful. “Thank you Alpha, our plan is to distract him while our sniper,” he motioned to Jongho, who gave a small nod at being acknowledged “will knock him out. We also have modified sonic flashbangs, to try and disorient him if the tranquilizer doesn’t work right away. We’re going to do everything we can not to have to kill him.” 

The grey haired male nodded sharply. “His brother is with him right now, attempting to calm him. He has not responded to any of our words. I have never in my time seen anything like this.” he frowned. “I will go back to my pack to calm them, let us know when you are about to move and I’ll pull us back so you can step forward.” he turned, heading away, stepping behind another low rock wall. A few moments later a great white wolf was running deeper into the zoo, no doubt to inform the others of what was about to happen. 

“He’s never seen a feral wolf before? That sounds weird.” Yunho said as he moved to take point, checking his rubber bullets and teargas, slipping on his mask to hopefully block out the worst of it if he had to run through the chemicals. 

“Sounds like maybe this isn’t just a wolf gone feral, that was one of the oldest alphas I’ve ever seen, I bet he's seen a lot.” Hongjoong replied, doing much the same as Yunho, pulling his face mask down. “Jongho you ready?” he looked towards the redhead. 

“I’ll get set up on the ridge over there.” Jongho pointed over about twenty feet away. “Good luck.” he tapped his ear piece to make sure it gave a small thump to the others, and then headed off once he got the nod from Hongjoong. 

“Joong you want me to be the distraction?” Mingi asked as he followed the blond and Yunho towards the cave. 

“Only if you want to. I know you’re not exactly keen on tangling with a wolf.” Hongjoong looked back at him, the memory of Mingi’s last fight with a packless wanderer clearly forefront. 

Mingi snorted. “I didn’t die that time, and I won’t die here. Besides that time we didn’t have an entire wolf pack behind us.” he winked at the squad leader. “I’ve got this, you guys just back me up.” 

Coming up on the cave was quick. Hongjoong glanced where Jongho had set up, but the redhead had picked a perfect vantage point. It could easily see down into the small courtyard outside of the cave, once they led the wolf out there he could take all the shots he wanted. The large white wolf Alpha was sitting beside a blond teenager, who was talking into the cave. 

“Eddie come on, it’s okay. Dad and I just want you to come down, please? Just shift into your lupine, we’ll head home.” The youth was saying, voice gentle and sweet. 

Yunho winced in sympathy, glancing at Hongjoong when they heard nothing but a feral snarl from the cave. “Gauru form.” he said quietly, looking to Mingi. “You sure?” 

Mingi nodded, dark eyes flickering in that gleaming mirror way the contacts did when any of them were switching the modes. “I’m ready.” 

Hongjoong made a growling sound in low in the back of this throat, before a rough imitation of the chuffing they’d heard from the wolves before. It had the desired effect, the pack alpha looked back to see them, giving them a nod with his big head before nudging the youth he’d been sitting beside. 

The boy looked back, eyes widening at the Hunters. He looked frightened, gripping onto the alpha’s fur. He looked back at the cave. “Eddie...please.” he pleaded. There was nothing but a growl in response from the confines of the cave. 

The alpha stood, pulling the boy gently away, and reluctantly the teen finally gave up, following after the wolf, looking at them worriedly once more before disappearing behind some rocks. Hongjoong took a quick breath, putting up his rifle and flicking off the safety. 

“Alright Mingi. You’re up.” He said quietly, knowing it would be picked up by their earpieces. 

Mingi nodded, stepping forward towards the cave entrance. “Hey! Wolf asshole! Where are you? Just hidin’ out in some damp rock? Coward. Come on, come face me and see what you can do!” he shouted, voice pitched aggressive and irritating. 

Hongjoong winced when he heard the explosive snarl that erupted from the cave, finger twitching on his rifle trigger. He positioned himself to the right, where anything that came out of the cave couldn’t immediately see him. Yunho did the same to the left, trying to make it look like Mingi was alone. Hongjoong could see the tense muscles in Yunho’s shoulders at the next snarl that erupted from the cave, and he forced himself to stop worrying for Mingi. He needed to just focus on protecting him. 

“Keep going Minky, you almost got him.” He called through the comms. 

Mingi backed up just a few steps. “Come on you mangy asshole, come and try me!” he risked firing into the cave, a single shot of a rubber bullet that thankfully didn’t hit anything, but it had the desired result. 

From the cave came a hulking black beast, gold eyes focused with mindless rage on Mingi. The gauru stood near ten feet, blood matted fur from both the fight and no doubt the murders earlier that night It let out a loud howl into the night air, before lunging at the teal haired hunter, claws out. Mingi managed to dodge, taunting as he went, long legs carrying him quickly as the beast turned to charge after him. 

_Fire one_. Jongho’s voice came over the comm, and suddenly the beast had a dart in its neck. 

The gauru howled again, turning it’s golden gaze where the dart had come from as it staggered a bit from the drug. It bared its teeth, but the second dart slammed into its chest on the left. It staggered once more, shaking its head in an obvious attempt to stop the tranquilizer now thrumming through its system. It turned back on Mingi, attempting to chase after him once more, but finally the creature staggered, collapsing on the ground right outside the cave. 

Hongjoong took a quick breath. “Don’t go near him.” He called out to Mingi and Yunho, stepping forward hesitantly towards the beast. 

“That should go for you too.” Yunho chided quietly, keeping his rifle aimed at the beast while Hongjoong moved closer. 

“Yeah well, do as I say, not as I do.” Hongjoong replied, getting close enough to nudge the beast’s leg with his foot. 

He breathed a sigh of relief when there was no reaction, just even breathing of the sleeping gauru. He pulled out the heavy duty cuffs they all carried, carefully moving the beast so he could get his arms behind his back. By this point Yunho and Mingi had ignored his order, helping him shift the gauru. Jongho came up, still staying a respectful distance away, talking on the phone. 

“Extraction team will be here in ten minutes. They want to take him to the hospital first.” The redhead said as he hung up, looking them over quickly as he always seemed to do, checking for injuries. 

Hongjoong nodded, flashing him a quick smile. “Good job, Jongho. Those shots were perfect.” he praised, looking over when he heard the chuff of a wolf. He straightened up just a bit as the alpha approached, letting the white wolf move to sniff over the sleeping gauru’s face. 

The alpha looked impossibly sad, gently nuzzling into the gauru’s slumbering neck, before pulling away. He gave Hongjoong a look that the platinum blond understood deeply; take care of him. He gave a nod of acknowledgement, and then the alpha let out a howl, taking off towards the exit of the zoo. Hongjoong could hear the other wolves respond, and even though he knew this pack meant them no harm, it still made the hair on the back of his neck creep up. He didn’t like being reminded that the only reason he and his team were able to do their job, sometimes, was because the creatures they protected and worked with actually worked with them in a peaceful manner. They chose not to kill them, and it made him nervous. 

Burying those thoughts ruthlessly, Hongjoong turned to look at his men, letting out a quick breath. “Alright, Yunho, Jongho, head back to the SUV. We’ll ride with extraction and meet you at the hospital, then head home. We can do our paperwork in the morning.” he grinned. “Let’s make it a late morning.” 

Met with a cheer from Mingi and bright smiles from Jongho and Yunho, Hongjoong couldn’t help but feel the small dark mood lift. It wasn’t just the aspects choosing, he had to remember. He and those he led were some of the best hunters in the city. They survived and flourished because they earned the respect of their aspected counterparts, and because if push came to shove, they could beat them in a fight. He had to remind himself this wasn’t some kind of crazy war, there hadn’t been an ‘us vs. them’ thought process in a thousand years. Letting Mingi’s babbling about how excited he was to go to bed wash away the last of the thoughts, Hongjoong joined in, chiding him on focusing on the task at hand while also casually asking him what he wanted for lunch. Just another night in Twilight City, he decided.


	2. Chapter 2

Choi San yawned, shaking his head to wake himself up as he walked along the street towards his job. The sun was still up slightly, longer days as summer crept closer. He kept to the shadows on the sidewalk, the buildings above all installed with shielding so the aspected that were averse to the rays of the glowing life ball could wander around without turning into piles of ash. He liked to slip into the last vestiges of the dusk, his skin warming up just a little and making him smile. He knew it was technically an injury, but it was at worst a small sunburn, and it was worth it to feel the sun’s warmth sometimes. 

Running fingers through his black and red streaked hair, San bounced across the street, sipping his creamy smoothie, finishing it quickly and licking the traces of it from his lips. His favorite coffee shop had started making a blood strawberry smoothie, and it was probably his new favorite thing in the whole world. Plus, for once when he walked around with a pink tinged liquid in a clear cup he didn’t get disgusted looks from non-vampires. Tossing his empty cup into the recycling outside the door of his work, he headed in, pulling his badge out from his scrub pocket on his pants and clipping it to his waistband. 

“Sannie!” The front secretary of the ER waved at him, flashing him a bright delighted smile. “I love them!” she squealed and motioned at him. 

San grinned, stopping to model his scrubs. He tried to wear new exciting scrubs at least once or twice a week, and today he had lilac scrubs with butterflies all over them. “I was trying to bring summer in just a little faster.” He replied as he headed over to her desk. “Evening, Lana. How’s the night looking?” 

“They’re adorable. Oh! It’s looking pretty busy, most of your patients from last night are still here.” She frowned. “I always hate full moons, so many broken and sprained bones. I know the lycans can heal faster but it always makes me sad, especially the first timers.” 

San nodded in sympathy, sighing as he was already plotting his room paths. “Let me know when you need lunch okay? Becca is on tonight and I don’t want her to force herself to stay up here just because she thinks I’m busy.” he told her. 

“Ugh you’re such a saint. Sannie, patron saint of overworked nurses.” she winked at him. “I’ll get you lunch too, you never eat and I don’t want to hear Doctor Park being disappointed again okay?” 

San rolled his eyes. “Just think what living with him is like. San, you need to drink this you’re too skinny. San, make sure you’re wearing sunblock today. San, have you been overworking, you slept a long time.” He made a face. “I love the guy but let me live my unlife.” 

Lana snickered. “Oh yeah, someone who takes care of you and cares about your wellbeing. It sounds awful and not at all like a certain goth peppermint candy sitting at my desk whining to me is being overdramatic.” she teased. 

“How dare...I gotta go work. No one understands my pain.” San playfully pouted, grinning as he waved to her, heading back to the nurse’s station. He saw Becca as he was approaching and made sure his normally almost silent footfalls made noise as he approached. 

Becca looked up, her wide eyes looking frightened at the noise, but when she saw San a shy smile lit up her green tinged lips. San smiled right back at her, heading behind the station to sign in, waving his embedded chip over the scanner on his computer to unlock it and get into his charts for the day. 

“Sannie, Doctor Washita has a special assignment for you today.” Becca told him, her voice soft, like a cold wind that barely moved above a whisper. 

San sighed. “Of course he does.” he smiled at the banshee. “Any chance it’s secretly to nap for a couple hours during my shift?” 

Becca giggled, shaking her wild main of grey and white hair. “No, silly. I guess the hunters brought in some kind of feral wolf? Doc Washita wants to have you check on them in a few hours, they’ve been asleep since last night.” she fidgeted. “I would have been assigned it but…” she looked down. 

San immediately tried to catch her gaze, giving her a reassuring smile. “Hey! None of that. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do Becks. We told you we’d take care of you when you got transferred to our station and Youngie and I meant it.” he looked over his patients, eyes lighting up. “Hey! I have an idea!” he transferred two of his adolescent patients to her chart. “Take these two, and then I can take care of our feral puppy without them getting neglected!” 

“Oh no, one of them has a broken wing?” Becca instantly melted as she read the poor fae’s injuries on the newly sent chart. “What happened to her?” 

San snickered “She decided to try skateboarding down a ramp and hit wrong when she tried to impress her friends by doing some kind of flip. She wanted a signature from all the nurses on her arm cast before she left in a few days, so this is perfect! She’ll love you.” 

Becca looked determined, nodding. “Okay, I’ll do it for you, San.” she smiled brightly at him. “Oh! Is Wooyoung in today?” 

San hated to wipe the small hopeful look off her face, but he had to shake his head. “He and Yeosang are going to a university conference this weekend so they’re getting their paperwork and travel permits tonight. They leave tomorrow morning.” he made sure to pout cutely “I’m all alone except for Seonghwa.” 

Becca giggled then, the sound like breaking glass, but San found it charming. “I’m sure he’ll make sure you’re very happy all by your lonesome.” 

San smiled at that, standing as he grabbed his tablet, scanning his chip to pull up his charts for movement. “You’re right, he actually took the weekend off because it’s my normal weekend off. We’re going to do ‘something fun’.” he put up his fingers to use quotation marks. “Knowing him it’s going to be horribly romantic and I’ll be unable to stop smiling for a week, gross.” he made a cute face, earning himself a soft laugh from his banshee friend. 

“How awful for you.” She teased him, also standing and scanning her own chip on her own tablet. “I’ll see you in a few hours!” she waved to him, heading down the hall, feet never really touching the floor as she floated along. 

San watched her go, smiling to himself. He headed off to his first patient, a delightful older werewolf woman who could choose not to transform even on the full moon. She was in with a broken hip, and she liked to tell him fun stories about her pack and how she led a war against a rival pack who would have tried to harm aspected in the city. She also made sure to give him recipes to give to Wooyoung, old world stews and tasty sounding meat roasts. It didn’t matter that they were both vampires and actual food was sort of a rare treat, she insisted they were both too thin and they both needed to eat more. She was his favorite patient, and he was a little sad she’d be discharged in two days, even though he was glad she got to go home. 

His next two patients were a fae that had gotten iron burns from a run in with a fence that hadn’t been properly coated in the non-aspected part of town, and in the same room was a siren who had been recovering from surgery. The siren refused to look at him, she had never taken to either him or Wooyoung, she hated vampires for some reason and despite them offering to let others work on her, she had refused but continued to treat them like their existence alone was offensive. He was very glad to move on to the fae, they were incredibly sweet and happy to talk to him about fae court things while San changed their bandages carefully. Escaping with a promise to be back before morning, the black and red haired vampire checked his tablet once more, sighing when he saw Doctor Washita had sent a call for him. 

Finishing up a couple quick status updates on his siren patient, he headed down the hall and turned towards the isolation ward. He saw the tall elder vampire doctor waiting at the heavy steel doors that blocked the next set of steel doors that lead into the actual isolation rooms. He came up to him, giving a small bow as was necessary when dealing with this particular clan. “Doctor Washita.” he greeted. 

“Mm, good you’re here. Nurse Choi I am sure I don’t have to tell you this is a very dangerous situation. We do not know what has caused this particular lycan to exhibit the behavior he’s been showing since yesterday. You will be going in, collecting vitals, and--”

“Sir.” San could be respectful to a point, but he had never and would never let a doctor tell him how to do his job. “I read your instructions earlier, you were very thorough on your report.” he was ever so polite, using what those at his station affectionately called San speak. Lana had said it was like being told to fuck off, but in the most kind way. 

Doctor Washita blinked, his eyes flickering from brown to red for a moment as he tried to figure out if he’d just been insulted or not. Deciding the sweetly smiling young vampire in his purple scrubs was more than likely just blunt, he nodded. “Good, thank you. Signal when you’re finished.” he nodded to the guard on the other side of the door for it to be open. 

San turned as the door opened, stepping through the six inch steel door frame, waiting patiently for it to be sealed behind him, and then the secondary also six inch steel door to be opened and then sealed behind him again. Looking towards the long hall of rooms, San took a quick breath, eyes closing as he pushed down his apprehension and fear, letting the numbness that came easily in the back of his mind press forward. It was not something every vampire had, Seonghwa had explained. Most had a drive and terrible anger dwelling under the surface, most had to control their monster and emotions to be normal members of society. San had the exact opposite problem, he had to push back the numbness, the near robotic calculating mentality slipped out if he was not very focused on being the same San he had been before he was turned. Seonghwa often said he wished he knew who had turned San so he could throttle them, but San didn’t mind it. It made him very effective in situations where emotions were a detriment, like walking into the isolation ward where they kept their most dangerous patients. 

Once he felt ready, San headed down the hall. In each of the heavily locked steel doors he could hear growling. Werewolves, seelies, crazed feral vampires. This was where they were kept while the medical staff figured out how to save them. He had been to the non-aspected main hospital once during one of his training seminars, and seeing their ISO ward had boggled him until he realized non-aspects tended not to become insanely dangerous when they had particularly damaging diseases. He often wished they didn’t need to make it look this much like a prison, but he’d been told they’d tried different things before landing on this reinforced monstrosity at the center of the hospital’s heart, with varying horrible failures. Pushing his musings down, the black and red haired vampire took a quick unneeded breath, waving his wrist over the locking mechanism on the grey heavily bolted door he was standing in front of. 

The door carefully opened inward, and he stepped into the small blocked safety glass entryway, the door sliding closed behind him once he was inside. He always winced when he heard the heavy bolting locks slide back in, the finality of it would’ve spiked his adrenaline if his heart still beat. Looking around the sterile white room he was glad to see the patient was in the bed, asleep. Still in gauru form, but his monitors were all beeping steadily, and San could hear the low beat of the lycan’s heart. 

Stepping into the room, putting on his gloves, San headed over to the bed to begin. He wrote down the vitals on the monitor into his tablet, looking over the dark furred lycan curiously. He could see where they’d shaved small points in his fur to stitch his wounds, the bandages slightly stained. Heading over to the wall he put in an order for new bandaging, and then went back to the bed. He began to check the lycan’s eyes for concussion and response, starting to talk quietly to his patient. 

“Hey Eddie. That’s what your dad said you were called! I’m Choi San, you can call me Sannie.” He said to the unconscious lycan, forcing himself not to pet the big gauru’s head like a dog. “I hope you wake up feeling better soon, I know what happened must be scary. Is that why you haven’t gotten to go back to your human form?” it was easy to slip sympathy into his tone, he honestly felt bad for the lycan. He was listed as a few weeks shy of eighteen, the poor kid was apparently a sweetheart. 

_A sweetheart that murdered two people_ , his brain helpfully supplied, but San brushed it off with a huff. It didn’t matter what this person did, they needed help and his job was to help, not to judge. He heard the soft beep that indicated his request was through, and he headed to the side of the room, tapping on the wall with his wrist to open the seamless slide tray, taking his supplies over to the lycan, carefully removing the other bandages to start cleaning the deep gouge marks.

“I know it hurts, I always hated getting medical tape removed.” he told the unconscious gauru, the lycan hadn’t moved but he wanted to keep his voice going. “Ooh, you poor thing. Looks like your pack really did try to subdue you before those mean old hunters showed up.” San gently smoothed antiseptic ointment over a claw mark, before bandaging it up again. 

As he worked on a particularly long nasty wound that looked like the kid had run into something and cut open his leg, he heard the faint uptick of the lycan’s heartbeat before the system chimed softly to alert him. San glanced up at the camera hidden in the far corner near the ceiling, giving a small nod to alert the guard something might happen, but then continued his ministrations. Another uptick, and a soft whimper escaped the gauru, the lycan shifting slightly on the bed. 

“Shh, it’s okay Eddie. You’re alright. You’re safe, you’re at the hospital.” San said gently, quickly finishing up his last injury bandage and then slowly moving out of arm’s reach but right where the lycan could see him when he opened his eyes.   
  


The lycan let out another whimper, big black ears pinning back, and finally golden eyes opened and locked onto San. San waited, he knew what to expect with lycan patients, especially on the full moon, and he wasn’t wrong when the gauru lunged at him, weak and loopy still from the medication and painkillers but no less lethal. San was glad he’d fed the night before, his speed unmatched as the lycan landed in the spot where he had been, looking around in confusion. San didn’t hesitate as he dropped onto the lycan’s back, pulling the gauru’s arm up and behind his back in a hold that threatened to break bone. 

“Eddie I’m gonna have to ask you to calm down, or we’re going to have to sedate you.” he warned him, voice still gentle but with a firm undertone. Not everyone could scold a giant werewolf, but San was rather good at it, which was why most of the doctors requested him for issues with lycans in particular. 

The gauru beneath him whined, and while San had been expecting the ferality to come out, to have to work harder, there was a sudden sniffle sound, and just as quickly as he’d been on top of a ten foot tall wolf beast, he was suddenly on top of a lanky six foot teen with a bunch of bandages that were loose. He let the boy’s arm go immediately, quickly moving to rest beside him on his knees as broken sobs ripped from the youth. He gently rubbed his back, mindful of where he needed to rebandage. Lycans didn’t normally go back to their human form during the full moon, this was worrying. 

“Shh, it’s alright. I’m your nurse, Sannie. I’m gonna take care of you, okay Eddie?” San said, and while he didn’t get a response the teen didn’t exactly sob harder, so he took it as a win. Carefully he looped his arm beneath the teen’s knees, gently picking him up and carrying him back to the bed. He laid him back down, about to turn to get more supplies when the boy’s hand caught his wrist so tightly he had to hide a wince. Still lycan strong, he reminded himself. 

“W-Where’s my dad...what happened?” Eddie whimpered, looking around. “H-How am I here?” 

San stared at the wall, cursing quietly. If the kid didn’t remember what had happened, who was he to explain that the poor guy had gone on a mini murder spree? He turned back around, offering the frightened youth his best smile. “You got beat up a bit, and you couldn’t get out of your gauru form. You gave the doctors a good scare.” he couldn’t help himself as he reached out with his non-grabbed hand, gently ruffling the teen’s short black hair. “I’m just gonna go over to the wall okay? We’ll get you bandaged up and then get you something to eat.” 

Eddie sniffled, he looked uncertain but he nodded, finally releasing the vampire’s wrist. San made sure to move slowly and show he wasn’t leaving, he could feel the lycan’s brown eyes boring into his back as he turned and got yet another set of bandages ready, carrying them over. He made sure to keep his face soft as he began to work again, gently wiping away any new blood that had come when his patient had decided to launch himself across the room, checking for pulled stitches and silently sending a thanks to the thread manufacturers when there wasn’t a single one broken. 

“I want my dad.” Eddie said suddenly, sounding impossibly small. 

San glanced at him, feeling a small twinge in his heart for the poor kid. He nodded, giving him a quick smile. “Let me finish this up and then I’ll get your dad in here. He’s going to be glad to see you.” He carefully taped down the last of his fixed bandage work. “Alright, let me go get him yeah? Ten minutes tops, promise.” 

Eddie looked at him nervously, but nodded. “Okay.” he whispered. 

San turned to head out of the room, pulling off his gloves and throwing them in the small chute inside the safety box, scanning his wrist to unlock the door. As he stepped out he turned to the left and nearly jumped out of his skin as he was suddenly confronted by two people. The first was Eddie’s father, the man looked like he hadn’t slept in a year, San felt horrible for him. The second was a tall dark haired man with impossibly blue eyes that smelled like gunpowder and was dressed in a ridiculous looking tactical outfit. San immediately had to fight back a growl as he made sure the door sealed tightly behind him. There was no way he was letting a Hunter near this child until after his father had seen him. Squaring his shoulders, knowing he looked about as intimidating as a fluff ball in his purple butterfly scrubs, he turned his entire attention towards the lycan elder. 

“Mister Garcia, your son is awake and has managed to return to his human form.” San said, making sure his voice was clinical, ignoring the slight shifting of the Hunter as he tried to draw attention. “He asked to see you, are you alright with heading in?”

“Excuse me, nurse? I need to speak with the suspect.” The Hunter finally spoke, and at any other time San would’ve found his sharp but pleasant lower tone voice enjoyable. Not this time. 

The black and red haired vampire turned his gaze on the Hunter fully, and if he allowed his eyes to flare just the tiniest bit gold no one could fault him. “I’m sorry, mister…?”

“Jeong Yunho.” The tall dark haired Hunter replied. 

“Mister Jeong. Right now the _patient_ ,” and he made sure to emphasize that word very clearly, “Is under the care of our hospital and his rights come first before your inquisition. He is injured, and terrified, and he wants to see his father. As his nurse and right now the one who is the only one that gets to dictate who he gets to see, you’re at the bottom of the list. You can go back to the waiting room. I’ll let you know when you can see him.” 

The temperature in the hallway felt like it dropped ten degrees with the glare he received from the Hunter. San stared right back at him, not trying to look challenging but he would not let this Hunter into that room. A soft clearing of a throat had the two of them break their glare match, looking towards the alpha wolf who was watching them. 

“Mister Yunho, please. I’ll let you speak to my son once I’ve been able to see him.” The alpha said pleadingly. 

San was expecting the Hunter to tell him no, but to the dark haired male’s credit he seemed to fight with himself, before nodding. 

“I’ll be in the waiting room. Come get me immediately once you’re done.” The Hunter shot San one more glare, before turning to head back down the hall. 

San watched him go, waiting until he’d gone through both steel doors to turn and unlock his patient’s door. “Try and keep your tone low and gentle.” he instructed quietly, opening the door and heading in with the anxious father. 

Mr Garcia nodded, waiting for the door to seal and then heading in to immediately envelope his son in as tight of a hug as he could. The two of them began a conversation in a language San didn’t understand and didn’t recognize, but he wasn’t there to listen in on them anyway. He cleaned up and then worked on files on his tablet while the family spoke. Normally he would leave them alone, but he couldn’t do that in ISO rooms. He was a line of defense against someone who could go feral, not that Eddie looked like he was going to go feral, he barely looked like he ever wanted to go any form of lupine again. He was just a frightened kid, clinging to his father and begging for an explanation that none of them could really give him. 

San knew when Mr Garcia must have told Eddie the full extent of what had happened. The heart wrenching sob that ripped from the teen made him wince, eyes flashing gold in a sudden urge to protect, but he pushed it down. That wasn’t his place, especially not now. The older lycan had his son in a tight hug as the youth buried his face in his father’s chest and sobbed, pleading for forgiveness and apologizing in whatever language they were speaking, and then in common. Just when San was about to request the doctor come in, Mr Garcia finally turned, looking to the vampire with determination. 

“We are ready to speak to the Hunter.” he said quietly. 

San nodded, wishing it wasn’t something that had to happen, but he’d respect Mr Garcia’s choice. “Alright. Doctor Washita will be here with you when the Hunter comes in, he’ll want to go over any information and correct anything that might be said.” he explained, giving his patient a small smile. “It was nice meeting you Eddie, I’ll be back before sunrise to check on you okay? Your dad can stay with you as long as you want. You’ll like Doctor Washita, he’s a nice guy, just a little grumpy sometimes.” 

Eddie sniffled, looking impossibly small as he pulled up his blankets, but he nodded at San’s words with a barely perceptible “Okay.” offered. 

San smiled sadly, turning to open the doors once more, leading Mr Garcia back out through the ISO maze towards the waiting room. He’d already requested Doctor Washita to meet them there, and despite his complaining about the elder vampire, he knew the doc would be good for this. Indeed, Washita was standing speaking to the dark haired Hunter, and San quickly said his goodbyes to the grief stricken father, not even giving the Hunter a passing glance as he turned and headed back to the nurses station. 

The rest of his night was a whirl of his patients, and a few new ones that had popped up as the evening continued and he covered Lana’s lunch. Just as he’d finished checking up on the sleeping Eddie, and making sure Mr Garcia had some coffee and a snack, his treat, San was finishing up his reports when an alert came through his tablet. He blinked, raising a brow at why the ethics board was reaching out. Had the siren finally complained about vampires existing? He snorted, clicking his message to read. As he read the small smile on his face dropped, anger welling deep inside, first like a flickering candle, but then a raging inferno. It took everything in him not to slam the tablet down, angrily clicking out of the message to finish up his work and clock out for the morning. He couldn’t even wish Becca or Lana a good day, storming out of the building, the last few lines of his ethics message burning in his mind. 

_‘We will be investigating these accusations, however you are not being requested to an inquiry at this time. All Hunter related requests must be investigated, we hope you understand that this will be on your record for six months.’_

The fucking Hunter had filed an official complaint because of his attitude. Impeding an investigation? Taking time away from a sensitive situation that could cause prolonged damage? Who the hell was this guy? San could barely see where he was going, not even realizing he’d gotten back to the townhouse he lived in until he was at the door. Opening it to an empty home, he felt minorly relieved that Seonghwa wasn’t home yet, and the other two had already left more than likely. It gave him time to stomp around angrily, taking a shower and curling up in Seonghwa’s bed just to let the other’s soft lavender scent try and cool his ire. He closed his eyes, trying to force himself into meditative sleep, his last thought before he finally got himself to let go ringing in his mind. 

_Fuck hunters, and fuck Jeong Yunho._


	3. Chapter 3

“Professor Kang! It’s so nice to see you!”

“Oh Professor Yeosang how are you?”

“Professor Kang, I’d like to introduce you to my new partner!”

Wooyoung ducked his head, thankful for his perfectly coiffed black hair that could hang in front of his eyes so when he rolled them the newest person to approach them to babble at the blond to his left couldn’t see it. He hadn’t known what to expect when he agreed to go to an education conference but listening to old men and women gush over his partner was not what he’d thought it would be. Not that he wasn’t fiercely proud of Yeosang, the blond vampire had finally finished his doctorate and was now one of the head instructors at Twilight University. It had been one of the main reasons that their clan had moved to the city in the first place, so listening to everyone treat Yeosang with respect like this did make him happy. But it was so _boring._

Yeosang was glowing though, and he could admire that. The blond looked so sharp in his brown sweater worn over a pale blue button up collared shirt, the collar crisp around his neck and the sleeves just peeking out at his wrists in that fashionable way. His face always looked interested in whoever approached, greeting and asking questions in that beautiful deep voice of his. No one flinched at his blood red gaze, no one looked nervous that his fangs seemed to poke out just a little while he spoke. Even the non-aspected that came to speak to them were just genuinely excited to see the newest professor and doctorate receiver. It was heartwarming, Wooyoung could admit. So much better than when they were undergrads in a backwater town doing night school and hiding who they were so no one would try to kill them. 

“This is Jung Wooyoung, my partner I was telling you about.” Yeosang’s voice drifted back into Wooyoung’s musings, and he blinked as he looked to see who the blond was talking to. 

A young man with deep crimson hair that had black roots stylized at the top about an inch from his head, it almost reminded him of San’s except the red was definitely darker and also this man’s face was much rounder than the angular wonder that was the other vampire. 

Wooyoung offered a friendly smile and a bow to the other man. “Nice to meet you.” he wished he’d caught the name, but hopefully it would come up again. 

“You as well, Professor Yeosang has said you were one of the reasons he managed to slog through his program. I’m hoping I can copy his great success.” The other said, offering a small smile that crinkled at the corners of his eyes and made him look adorable. 

“Jongho is in an accelerated program in anthropology and history with a focus on aspects, and dual majoring in law enforcement.” Yeosang explained, looking very proud. “He was one of my best students.” 

“That’s a pretty hefty amount of focus and study, what are you aiming to do with all of that?” Wooyoung asked curiously. 

“I’m already training at the moment to be a Hunter. I’m hoping I can move up in the organization and get into their legal department. We’re doing well at the moment but there’s plenty of laws that can always be worked on to make the community live more cohesively, and archaic laws against Aspects that need to be repealed.” Jongho replied, the passion in his voice evident even as he tried to stay polite. 

Wooyoung smiled at that, it was nice to hear a non-aspect speak so brazenly about law repeals and ways to help the aspected. He hadn’t dealt with much except in the medical field so far, but he didn’t doubt many things still needed to be worked on, even this far into the city’s blending. 

“If you keep that passion I think you’ll do great. I’m sure Yeosang talked about you at home, at least to our clan leader, Seonghwa. They’re the smart ones.” Wooyoung joked, pretending to stumble when Yeosang nudged him with his shoulder playfully. 

“Oh, Doctor Park Seonghwa? I’ve read a couple of the papers he’s published on the differences between aspect and non-aspect medicine and moving towards a combined medical facility.” Jongho replied, unable to hide his interest now. 

“That’s him! He’s a smartypants, same as Sangie here, I just sort of bask in their brilliance.” Wooyoung laughed, delighted when Jongho grinned and gave a soft laugh as well. 

“Don’t let him sell himself short, Wooyoung is a very good nurse and one of the best chefs I’ve ever met.” Yeosang eyed Wooyoung, not about to let him talk down about himself. 

“A chef? Do you cook often?” Jongho asked curiously. 

Wooyoung smiled shyly. “I know it seems a little weird, a vampire cooking. I like doing it though, I’m studying different cuisines right now and combining them with my home cuisine where they fit. I usually bring what I make into the hospital when the others get done tasting it, let everyone have a free lunch on me.” 

“That’s really cool, how do you work with the different allergens for the different aspects that work at the hospital? Do you bake too? What’s the weirdest ingredient you’ve used so far?” Jongho was apparently nothing if not bold in his questioning, and Wooyoung was absolutely happy to answer all the rapid fire queries directed at him. 

Yeosang smiled as he listened to them begin to speak about cooking, rolling his eyes fondly as he took the opportunity to take out his phone and check his messages. His smile faded just a little when he clicked on Seonghwa’s newest text.

‘ _Sannie got an administrative warning over his attitude towards a Hunter. He’s very upset. Any thoughts on what I can do?’_

Yeosang frowned, sending back a quick reply. _‘Maybe try that new cutesy movie that just came out last week? The one with the animals, I think he’d like that.’_

It didn’t take long for his phone to chime softly with Seonghwa’s reply. ‘ _This is why I go to you for the smart ideas. Love you, hope you and Wooyoung are having fun.’_

The blond glanced up at Wooyoung who was now animatedly discussing different pastry types with an equally excited Jongho. He couldn’t help his smile coming back as he covertly snapped a picture and sent it to Seonghwa. _‘I think I hear wedding bells in his future.’_

Some laughing crying emojis came and then _‘He’s cute. Don’t let Wooyoung get too carried away, we just got settled and I don’t feel like moving into a new bigger house just yet.’_

Yeosang shook his head, rolling his crimson eyes before rejoining the conversation in time to hear Wooyoung say “So it’s a date then? Next week we’ll meet up on your night off and I’ll teach you how to make baklava?”

“Please! Let me get your number? My team would love it.” Jongho replied eagerly, taking out his phone and quickly entering Wooyoung’s name, offering it over for the dark haired vampire to enter his number. 

Wooyoung took it, plugging in the numbers and then texting himself to get Jongho’s number. “Done, you and I are gonna be best pastry pals.” 

Yeosang shook his head, looping his arm into Wooyoung’s. “Now that you’ve adopted one of my former students, we need to take a seat for the key speaker.” he looked at Jongho “Did you want to join us?” 

Jongho shook his head, putting his phone away. “I appreciate it, but I could only be here for half the day. I’ve got to head to tactics training with my squad leader. It was nice meeting you, Wooyoung. I’ll see you both later I’m sure.” he gave them a friendly wave, heading towards the exit. 

“I think that’s the fastest you’ve ever made a friend.” Yeosang teased as he led the way to the main auditorium, comfortably leaning against Wooyoung as they walked. 

“I’m sure I’ve made one faster, but I like him. He’s very excited to learn.” Wooyoung replied cheerfully, looking at the board on who was speaking as they entered. “Wait, your key speaker is Council Director Abrahms?” he said, eyes widening comically. 

“Mmhmm. It’s why this conference is so packed. He’s giving a symposium on the changing atmosphere of Twilight City and what he thinks will help stop the skirmishes that keep happening, or so he calls them. Every city has fighting, I don’t know why they think this one would be any different.” Yeosang shrugged as he led the way to the back rows of the hall, heading into the center seats. 

“That’s your hundreds of years showing, Sangie. Non-aspects don’t get to have the luxury of living that long, and I get it. Wanting to try and solve those problems so future generations don’t have to deal with them is important.” Wooyoung replied, settling beside the blond. “Besides, it’s already so different than where we came from. In just three years we’re basically accepted everywhere we go, no one bats an eye at me and San working at a hospital, we even got to get specialized training at the non-aspected medical facilities! And no one even looks at you weirdly for your eyes, it’s all Professor Kang is the coolest and most handsome, he let me turn in a paper late and gave me full credit.” 

Yeosang snorted, ducking his head in that shy way he did whenever Wooyoung hit on something he was secretly pleased about. “I guess you’re right. I’ll be interested in what he has to say for the ID chips. I know why most use them, but I don’t like the loss of anonymity.” He idly scratched his left wrist, knowing he couldn’t feel the tiny hunk of plastic and metal if he pressed down but he always imagined he could. 

“It’s a weird system to be sure, I do like not having to carry a wallet at all. Makes wearing skin tight pants a lot easier.” Wooyoung replied with a wink. 

Yeosang snorted, shoving Wooyoung playfully. “Yes, that is true. I’m so glad we traded our freedom of movement for leather pants that hug your ass.” 

Wooyoung snickered, letting out a small high pitched laugh before he could catch it, smiling apologetically to the academics that eyed him suspiciously. Sinking down into his seat he managed to keep himself to small giggles. “I hate you.” he complained to the blond. 

“Mmhmm, I know. I love you too. It’s starting, shh.” he put his finger to his lips, waggling his eyebrows just to make sure Wooyoung would keep struggling with not laughing for another few minutes as the lights went down and the symposium started. 

\---

“And then he had the audacity to try and stop me from talking to the suspect! A lycan that had literally just killed two people in cold blood!” 

Mingi leaned against his hand, watching Yunho pace back and forth in the office they shared with their other two teammates. It wasn’t that he didn’t think his dark haired friend had a reason to be upset, well, actually he very much didn’t think he had a reason to be upset, but he was trying to at least be mildly supportive as the other tried to rant away his guilt for writing up some poor vampire nurse who was just doing their job. 

“Yunnie, I get it. Hey, at least you got the info right? We can write up our reports and be done with it.” He finally tried to get a word in, only earning himself a half hearted glare before Yunho finally just collapsed in his own seat at his desk. 

“I’m just...why do they always have to act like we’re about to hurt them?” He finally grumbled, glaring at his water bottle before finally grabbing it and taking a drink. 

Mingi smiled sadly, looking at his monitor and typing a few more words into his write up. He didn’t want to answer Yunho, he knew Yunho already knew the answer, but as the silence stretched on he sighed, running fingers through his teal locks. “Because most of the time when a Hunter shows up, it’s to hurt them.” he replied quietly. 

Yunho grimaced, giving Mingi a reproachful look. “Not every time though.” he said with a pout. 

Mingi snorted, continuing to write up his report. At last he heard Yunho reluctantly tapping away at his own report. It was silent except for the quiet radio they had playing for a good twenty minutes or so, both absorbed in their work, until finally Yunho made a small noise of annoyance. 

“I just don’t get it.” He said, sighing in frustration. 

“Mm?” Mingi looked up from his paperwork, raising a brow. 

“This kid is an honor student. He knows five languages, he was going to college acceleration courses and the night he decided to just kill some people he had been returning from an afternoon university prep program his high school offered seniors. His father was next in line for the lycan seat on the Council, the pack is known throughout Twilight City for helping homeless and being model citizens.” Yunho glared at his screen. “None of it makes sense. Why would he throw all of that away? For what?”

Mingi frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t think any of us could answer that. Instinct kicking in, blood lust on a full moon? Maybe those people harassed him and he couldn’t control himself? I don’t really buy into the whole aspects being inherently dangerous nonsense like some in our department do but sometimes I think that some of the natural predators could have more going on upstairs than we really give them credit for. Lycans, vampires, they’re just existing in a whole city of prey and the only reason they don’t attack us is cause they choose not to. It’s kinda scary to think about sometimes.” 

Yunho shook his head. “I don’t believe that, Minky. Yeah sure they have animalistic qualities, they turn into wolves and stuff, but they were, no _are_ people, they live in our society. They do it because they’re human just like us, in some facsimile.” 

Mingi snorted “Don’t let a fae hear you call them a human, they’ll curse you to lose all your left socks for the rest of your life.” he teased, but he became more serious as he barely got a crack of a smile from his friend. “Worst case scenario the kid is playing everyone, he’s actually some kind of crazed murderer and always has been. Best case scenario he’s sick, and it can be blamed on that and with some rehabilitation he’ll be fine. I think it’s going to be somewhere in the middle of it though.” he sighed softly. “We can’t dwell too hard on it though, it’ll make it harder to do the next job. We gotta do what Joongie always tells us, don’t question motives just make sure we’re protecting the citizens of Twilight.”  
  


Yunho sighed with him, eyes closing. “I don’t know why this is bothering me so much. Ugh, what are Hongjoong and Jongho doing?” he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to fight off his headache. 

“Jongho just got back from his education conference, they’re doing tactics training in the holo.” Mingi replied. “We’re on duty together right now and then they’ll join us later tonight.” 

Pushing himself up, Yunho flicked his thick black hair from his eyes. “Wanna go do a patrol? I’m feeling restless and I just want to go wander a bit.” 

The teal haired hunter smirked, saving his file and standing up. “Yeah let’s go, I’ll give you a heart attack by driving so you can take your mind off of things.” 

Yunho finally laughed, giving him a challenging look. “You beat me to the garage you can drive.” he didn't even give Mingi a chance to respond, racing out of the room, a loud shout from his partner erupting behind him and then he heard the other hunter thundering down the hall after him. He could distract himself this way, he decided, a good patrol with his best friend where he didn’t have to think about cute angry vampire nurses and sad teenage lycans for a few hours. He just hoped nothing happened while they were out.


	4. Chapter 4

Seonghwa watched his youngest with an indulgent smile, hiding it behind the glass of blood wine he was sipping while San stomped around the kitchen. It was technically day one of their little mini weekend vacation, but the first few hours had been usurped by San’s anger towards the unfairness of write ups and how he was going to punch that hunter if he ever saw him again. Normally Seonghwa would aim to stop it, if it was Wooyoung or even Yeosang he wouldn’t want their emotions to get the better of them. With San, though, when the black and red haired vampire raged without preamble or thought, it meant that somewhere inside him that numb emotional block brought by the trauma of his turning could be shattered, so Seonghwa let him be angry. 

“Sannie, would you like to go see a movie?” Seonghwa called out, casually sliding his thumb up his phone screen as if he’d just seen it and hadn’t hatched a plot with their other clan mate. 

“Gonna rip every black hair out of his he-what?” San blinked, gold eyes sliding back to icy blue as he looked over at Seonghwa. He was staring at him like he’d just remembered he existed, and then a look of guilt engulfed his handsome features. 

Seonghwa refused to let the guilt last too long. “Yes, I’m feeling whimsical, and Sangie reminded me of that new cartoon movie that just came out, with the fae animals? Would you like to go see it? We can get dinner after and go shopping for gifts for our returning triumphant conference goers.” 

The guilt slid away and San’s beautiful smile lit up his face at the idea of getting things for Yeosang and Wooyoung. “That’s a brilliant idea! Let me just go put something else on.” he looked down at his pajamas. “I’ll be back.” he hurried towards his own room, taking stairs up to the second floor two at a time. 

Seonghwa watched him go, quickly finishing his wine and standing to go get ready himself. He was already dressed but he could go brush his teeth and fuss with his hair until San returned. Idly his phone chimed as he was fixing his side bangs he liked to wear to where they hung in a slightly fluffed out point on the left side of his face. Glancing down he saw he had a new request for a meeting at the Crescent district Hunter HQ. He raised an elegant brow, wondering what the Hunters wanted with him. It better not be about San or he’d raise hell. As Clan Leader of his small contingency he could technically be brought in for questioning on anything the others did, but talking back to a hunter while one of them was just doing their job was not something Seonghwa would tolerate being told was wrong. 

Clicking accept on the meeting request, making sure it popped up in his calendar and then sending a quick e-mail to explain he would be late in two days and why to his supervisor, Seonghwa headed back out into the living room just as San hopped down the stairs. The older vampire had to take a quick breath at what the younger had decided to dress in. Normally San had a softer aesthetic, sweaters in bright colors or neutral creams, jeans, things that were comfortable. When he decided to dress up though...Seonghwa couldn’t stop himself from staring at the blood red v-neck t-shirt and black perfectly tailored dinner jacket, the black dress pants and shining laced up formal shoes. San had even added small dangling earrings to his left ear that gleamed in their chains, looping to the cuff at the top of his ear. How someone could go from a just woken up adorable mess to a perfectly make-up clad handsome god in a matter of minutes was beyond him. 

“Wow.” Seonghwa finally got out, earning himself a blush and a pleased smile from the other vampire. 

“Not too much? I was thinking we could try that steak bistro, and you already looked so good.” San replied, fidgeting nervously. 

“We might look a little weird going to see a kids movie, but we’ll be the best looking couple everywhere else.” Seonghwa approached him, gently running his fingers through soft black and red locks, leaning to kiss those slightly pouted red tinted lips. “We should go before I decide to pull all of this off of you.” he spoke low, letting his voice growl just a bit. 

It had the desired effect of San shivering, his blue eyes flickering gold, but the younger vampire managed to control himself, grinning as he ducked away from Seonghwa’s touch. “Stop that, we’ll never get out of the house if you keep growling like that.” he chided the other, quickly ducking the affectionate swat Seonghwa sent at him and hurrying out the door. 

The evening was young still, the sky had the faintest purple and pink glow of dusk but some stars had begun peeking out of the black above them. San admired them for a moment, before taking Seonghwa’s offered hand, heading down the block towards the bus station that would take them to the subway. Thankfully it wasn’t too far, only three stops to the part of the city where their favorite movie theater was. It was in a non-aspected section, but the place served blood drinks and had special theaters for aspected that had the volumes adjusted for hypersensitive hearing and images adjusted slightly darker for their advanced eyesight. San split off from Seonghwa to let the other vampire buy tickets while he got them drinks, getting some chocolate covered raisins to share. Well, he could pretend it was to share, he knew he’d eat most of them but Seonghwa would have at least one so that was definitely sharing in his mind. 

Settling into their seats, San immediately cuddled into Seonghwa’s side, the older vampire smiling and indulgently wrapping his arm around the younger. As the movie started Seonghwa accepted his one sugary candy, settling in and gently sliding his fingers into the other’s hair, scritching the back of his scalp as they watched. It wasn’t exactly his kind of movie, but he had to admit he could find the plot cute, and the animation was delightful and colorful. San seemed to be enjoying it, and the most important part was the tension he could feel from the other vampire was bleeding out, the anger from before fading away as he focused on other things. 

By the time it was over Seonghwa finished off his drink and nudged San awake, smirking at the cute soft noise of dislike the sleeping vampire made. He leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “If you stay in the theater we can’t go to dinner.” he mumbled against his hair. 

San sighed dramatically, sitting up. “I guess that’s a good reason to get up.” he grinned sheepishly. “I wasn’t expecting to fall asleep.” he stretched, shaking off the lingering lethargy. 

“I think you needed it. Don’t worry, the bad guys lost and there was a dance party at the end.” Seonghwa replied with a smile, standing to follow the other out of the theater. 

“Oh good, I was worried they wouldn’t all dance to whatever top 40 song was going off a year ago.” San snickered, about to step forward when Seonghwa’s iron grip latched onto his arm. He looked up in concern, his smile falling from his face when he saw how serious the dark haired vampire looked. “Hwa?” 

“Something’s wrong.” Seonghwa replied quietly, tilting his head. “Screaming. Come on.” he took off running instantly. 

San blinked, quickly dashing after the tall vampire. Now that they were closer he could hear it. Panicked screaming, car horns, he thought he heard the sound of running water too. As they turned the corner to the next block they came across pandemonium. Cars were flipped, people were running and screaming, and two hunters were locked in combat with some kind of non-aspect. All San saw was grey hair but then he heard Seonghwa clearly over the mayhem. 

“Focus on the injured! Get them out!” Seonghwa was using his doctor voice, and San wasn’t about to disobey the sharp clear instructions. 

He quickly rushed to a fallen woman, helping her stand, concerned about the blood dripping from her ears but she quickly pushed away from him and raced down the street away from the fighting. San didn’t bother chasing after her, opting to pick up an unconscious man and quickly carry him to safety. There was no real time to triage, he was assessing whether people could be moved or not in the blink of an eye. He hated leaving people down, but their hearts beat strong, and they’d sustained injuries that made him worry of making it worse if he tried to move them. 

Looking up, San could see one black haired hunter and one teal haired hunter, dodging and ducking the grey haired aspect they were fighting. There was something weirdly familiar about the aspect but he couldn’t really focus on that as he watched the hunters. They were trying to lure the aspect more down the street, away from whatever had gone off to do all the damage to this particular part of the road. He realized he recognized one of the hunters, that bastard from the hospital. He snorted, quietly wishing the aspect could escape just to piss him off, before pushing that petty thought to the side and working to triage another unconscious woman. 

“San! There’s someone up near the fight, can you get them?” Seonghwa called out, making San peek over his pile of rubble he was hiding his newest patient behind, seeing what Seonghwa was looking at after a second. 

“Yeah!” He replied, ducking back down and checking the pulse of his triaged patient once more, darting out behind his hiding spot and heading towards the fight. 

The dark haired hunter, Yunho his brain helpfully supplied, had moved to the injured person San had been running for. Yunho looked up, eyes widening when he spotted San, and he quickly got a determined look on his face as he nodded at him. San got it, whatever petty anger between them died at this moment in favor of helping people. He moved to stop on the other side of the patient, wincing as he saw how injured they were. He couldn’t really hear their heart anymore, and he shook his head. “It’s too late.” he said quietly. 

“We’ve cleared out the buildings at the other end of the street. The others?” Yunho asked, looking towards his partner worriedly, watching Mingi’s movements like a hawk. 

“Thankfully I was out with a doctor, he’s helping triage while EMS gets here.” San replied, looking over at where the teal haired hunter was working. 

It all happened in a second, he realized what the hunters were fighting just as he heard a sharp crackling inhale of air. San’s eyes widened and he grabbed Yunho by his lapels, the hunter giving a shout of surprise, trying to push himself away from the vampire but San had pressed his hands to Yunho's head to cover the hunter’s ears, covering his body as much as he could over the hunter’s when the ear shattering scream ripped into the air. The supernatural sound shattered the glass in the buildings around them, the banshee wail sending cracked pavement and whole chunks of building side crashing down and flying.

The pain that erupted in San’s head was sharp and immense. He didn’t realize he’d blacked out until he felt the hunter move beneath him, and he couldn’t remember his head collapsing onto the male’s chest. Blearily looking up he looked over the black haired man, noticing his eyes squeezed shut in pain. San quickly pushed himself up, ignoring the ache and high pitched ringing in his head as he looked over the hunter, wincing when he saw the piece of rebar now through the other’s shoulder. Taking off his dinner jacket he tore it in half, carefully wrapping part of it around the rebar and then tying the rest tightly around the other’s arm so it wouldn’t move. 

Yunho was saying something to him, making weak motions to their left. San looked over, eyes widening when he saw the prone form of the teal haired hunter. He nodded to Yunho then, motioning for him to stay put before he stood and immediately fell. San winced, looking down at his own leg, seeing another piece of rebar had pierced through his thigh. Growling faintly, ignoring the pain he forced himself up, limping now over to the unconscious hunter. Thankfully no more rebar had decided to stab anyone, and he dropped down to see the other had hit his head, and had a pretty nasty glass cut along his arm. Using the rest of his jacket he wrapped it around the wound to keep pressure until EMS could get there. He looked back at Yunho, who was watching him with pure fear on his face. San felt a pang of remorse for him, and quickly put his thumb up to try and signal that the other hunter was okay. The relief was instant and Yunho’s head weakly dropped back to the dirty broken street. 

A boom vibrated in his chest, and San looked over to see two other hunters had picked up the fight where Yunho and his partner had dropped. He could follow them easily now without the distracting sounds of the street. His hand rested on the teal haired hunter’s chest to monitor his heart rate, no other sound coming to his deafened state. He could now see the banshee clearly, and his fingers clenched, tearing into the hunter’s shirt when he realized he recognized them. Recognized _her_. 

He was up and trying to run before he remembered why he _couldn’t_ , a feral snarl ripping from him that did nothing as he watched the small blond hunter pull out some kind of gun, firing two cold iron rounds into the banshee’s body. She screamed once more, the blast going into the air and clipping the roofs of nearby buildings but thankfully not hurting anyone else as she collapsed. He tried to crawl forward, tears already in his eyes when he felt strong hands grab him. Jerking he looked up he saw Seonghwa saying something, and while he could feel the low rumble from the other’s voice vaguely he had no idea what he was saying. He knew he was babbling, begging for Seonghwa to go save her, to help her. 

Nothing happened from his pleading, he wondered if he was even speaking in actual words. Seonghwa had picked him up and had moved him towards the other hunters, working on his leg and one sharp look with a flash of deep blood red eyes had San holding so very still. His Sire had said stay, he would stay. Even as the red lights of the ambulance were flashing, as the lycan EMT lifted him onto a stretcher, all San saw was the fallen body of the banshee. He didn’t hear anything going on around him, could only feel the low rumble of the machinery and the faint prick of a needle going in his arm to start feeding him fluids. 

She was supposed to be working. She was supposed to be at the hospital he was going to be driven to. She was supposed to be in the ER waiting for him to show up so she could fuss over him. Tell him how stupid and brave he was to run into the thick of things, to laugh in her whispered soft way like broken glass. San felt Seonghwa holding his hand, but he couldn’t look at the other vampire, letting his eyes drift closed as he tried to block out the last sight he’d seen. She’d fallen so quickly, like it was nothing. Whatever they’d given him in the IV was kicking in, he could feel the sluggish way the drugs were making him feel, the sedative no doubt necessary because he knew he was panicking, and even without a blood flow it was still dangerous to go into shock. Not for normal reasons, but because a panicked vampire was a dangerous vampire. Better to knock them out and let them wake up in a secure location. Where she wouldn’t be, she would never be again. 

Two shots and she’d fallen, San could see it even with closed eyes. It followed him into unconsciousness, the silent scene replaying a thousand times, and all he could do was watch Becca fall over and over again. 


End file.
